The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired center Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nugget in exchange for two future first-round picks.
Update to Cavs story w/ @WindhorstESPN: Cavs will send TWO future firsts to Denver for Mozgov
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 7, 2015
Here are the two picks that the Cavaliers are giving to the Nuggets:
Cleveland will send Denver two picks that it controls via Memphis and Oklahoma City, league source tells Yahoo. No other players in deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 7, 2015
Here are the specifics on the Memphis and Oklahoma City picks that Denver will own:
Here are protections on Memphis pick: 1-5 and 15-30 in 2015, 1-5 and 15-30 in '16, 1-5 in '17 and 1-5 in 2018; unprotected in 2019
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 7, 2015
Protections on Cleveland first-round to Denver via OKC: 1-18 in 2015, 1-15 in '16; 1-15 in 2017. After '17, it becomes two seconds.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 7, 2015
Mozgov had started in all 35 games this season for the Nuggets, averaging 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game in just 25.6 minutes per game. Throughout the season, his minutes had fluctuated from a high of 49 minutes in an overtime game against the Raptors to a low of 10 minutes against the Sacramento Kings. While he has played well in the first month and a half of the season, he really seemed to have been in coach Brian Shaw’s doghouse in terms of recent playing time and that resulted in a big drop-off in his production, as he’s scored in double figures in only 4 of his last 15 games as the starting center. He also has just 13 blocks in those 15 games due to the limited playing time.
Joining a shorthanded frontcourt with the Cleveland Cavaliers will definitely help Mozgov with a fresh start with a familiar coach. Cavs head coach David Blatt was also the head coach of the Russian National Team for the 2012 Olympics, a team that featured Mozgov. Blatt spoke very highly of Mozgov and was always on the same with management when it came to acquiring Mozgov.
For the Cavs, they now not only have the defensive center that they’ve been coveting for over a year now, but will be adding another player to the short-handed frontcourt that’s had Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson playing nearly 40 minutes per game recently.